Evan McKenzie on the rise of private urban governance and the law of homeowner and condominium associations. Visit evanmckenzie.wikispaces.com for my published articles and services.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Huffington Posters shocked to discover where meat comes from: "SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes. Watch the video below to see for yourself. Be warned, it's kind of gruesome."---------------Palin went to a turkey farm to do the annual "Governor-pardons-a-turkey" schtick. Then she did an interview with local TV. In the background a guy kills a turkey and bleeds it out. Palin had her back to that but it was on camera. Now the New York Times and a bunch of other folks are aghast.

Maybe we have two kinds of people in this country: one that knows where meat comes from, and one that thinks it grows packaged on meat trees.

update: I had several conversations with people who were horrified by this episode. None of them is vegetarian. All of them will have turkey for Thanksgiving. One of them put it like this: "I don't want to see it." I respect vegetarians who think meat is murder and don't eat it. But if you eat meat but can't stand to see what is involved in making animals into meat, you have a little ethical problem that you should work out, instead of trying to arrange the world so nobody reminds you of it.

My Way News - Skull with built-in sauna turns heads in Austria: "VIENNA, Austria (AP) - An oversize skull with a built-in sauna is turning heads in the Austrian capital. The white walk-in structure - situated near a busy Vienna intersection - is known as the 'Wellness Skull' and also boasts a bathtub and shower. On either side of the neck, that is.

The eye-catching installation, which stands about 15 feet tall and is made of wood and synthetic material, is the brainchild of Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout."----------------Looks comfy.

At issue is whether the North Beverly Park Homeowners Association had a right to restrict road access to nonresidents of South Beverly Park, after decades of not doing so.

While residents have not been directly inconvenienced, their contractors, nannies and gardeners, among others, have had no choice but to take lengthy detours, according to the newspaper article."-------------I wouldn't want to be on the other side of a lawsuit from Samuel L. Jackson. "I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished. Well then, allow me to retort. What does my gardener look like?"

Now two more California cities – Rio Vista and Isleton – are considering bankruptcy protection as an option as they face large budget shortfalls and staggering debt.

While experts caution against ringing the alarm bells just yet, they do say tough economic times could push municipalities already on the brink over the edge."-----------------Yes, this is a sign of things to come. Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.

Fiction review: 'The Development' by John Barth: "'The Development' contains nine related stories set within a gated community in Chesapeake Bay country. Its residents, mostly upper-middle-class retirees 'in the dawn of the new millennium and the evening of their lives,' hold toga parties, have affairs, fret about their distant children and deal with suicides, hurricanes and Peeping Toms."-----------Can't wait for the movie. Especially the geriatric toga party.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Vallejo's neighbors try to stay afloat: "The same budgetary nightmare that has shrouded Vallejo - a plunge in tax revenues coupled with rising employee costs - is playing out in the nearby cities of Fairfield and Rio Vista as well as other municipalities hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Rio Vista is talking to bankruptcy attorneys while a 750-home development sits virtually abandoned. Fairfield just sliced 9 percent from its budget and is poised to slash 7 percent more. Earlier this year, Vallejo filed for Chapter 9 protection when faced with a $16 million deficit."----------Fred Pilot sent along this word of more doom and gloom from the former Golden State, now looking somewhere between tarnished and rusted shut.

Begging for Bailout Cash, U.S Cities Told to Go Fish: Joe Mysak: "You can't blame U.S. cities for eyeing the federal government's open vault and asking for a bailout, too. Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia and Phoenix have all asked in recent days for some of the Troubled Asset Relief Program billions. You can expect more to ask."------------------And I don't think they will be getting it. But we shall see.

Newsblog | Bankruptcy talks begin in San Diego: "Bankruptcy talks began, kind of, in San Diego Monday when City Council President Scott Peters invited public comment for a Tuesday closed-door hearing on whether it should be considered here."----------I don't think San Diego will go bankrupt, but they have some very serious budget problems.

Larger Inmate Population Is Boon to Private Prisons - WSJ.com: "'We have serious concerns about for-profit prison companies because they are notorious for cutting essential costs that need to be provided to maintain a safe and constitutional environment for prisoners,' says Jody Kent, a public-policy coordinator for the ACLU's National Prison Project."----------Fred Pilot raises a good question: if prisoners in private prisons have constitutional rights, what about the inmates of the rest of the nation's private communities?

I wonder how many Americans know that Obama hasn't been elected yet? Today that is a formality, but when the Constitution was written the idea was that we chose electors, and the electors chose whoever they thought would make the best President. Could be Pee Wee Herman under that system.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Pirates anchor hijacked supertanker Sirius Star off Somalia coast | World news | guardian.co.uk: "The Saudi Arabia-owned supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates in a raid several hundred miles out to sea is understood to have anchored off the coast of Somalia."----------Fascinating example of private navies wreaking havoc. What to do? How about privatizing the response? It's right in the constitution: letters of marque and reprisal: Article I, Section 8: Congress has the power "To...grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;"

That means commissioning privateers to go get the scalawags and keep a portion of what they recover as their booty. I think you would get plenty of well-armed and well-trained volunteers, especially in this economy. Maybe a team of ex-SAS and Special Forces lads in a fast boat with a few Zodiacs and the proper hardware?

The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and 'at least misdemeanor assaults' on detainees by working through the prison companies."----------------So privatization of federal detention centers leads to indictment of the VP?

Florida pension fund loses a quarter its value - Yahoo! Finance: "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida's public employee pension plan has lost more than a quarter of its peak value, but Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials Monday said the fund is built for the long haul and there's no need to panic."--------------They only lost $38 billion, so what's the problem?

Monday, November 17, 2008

From McMansions to modest - The Denver Post: "According to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, a market-research and analysis firm for residential real-estate development and new-home construction, the median square footage and median sales price for homes dropped from 2,000 square feet for $314,900 in the first quarter of 2008 to 1,876 square feet for $306,950 in the third quarter."------------------Homes got 124 square feet smaller so far this year. Another couple of years and we'll all be living in phone booths.

It made the move because so many yards had grown out of control at foreclosed homes. The cost to each resident is $55 a month added to their $170 HOA fee."------------This is a new one. The developer still controls the association, and he is using his power this way. Fred Pilot sent the link.

'Number two, we've got to stop defending the kinds of corruption we would rightfully criticize in the other party. The week before the election, our most senior senator is convicted on federal charges - and that's only the latest example.

'Number three, we have got to be the party that offers real solutions to the problems that American voters, American families are worried about. We don't need to abandon our conservative principles; we can't just be the 'party of no.' We need to offer real solutions on making health care more affordable, on the economic challenges facing families, on the international threats.'"-----------------Government spending, corruption, and problem-solving. Fine. That will respond to the 40% of the electorate that votes on policy. But the other 60% of the electorate just leaves one party in power until things are going badly in the country, and then they vote for the other party.

So I think no matter what the Republicans do they are going to be waiting in the wings until the public loses patience with the Democrats. That means that policy areas such as housing will simply be run by Democrats, according to their priorities, for the forseeable future. That means high density housing in the cities and inner ring suburbs, and that means more CIDs.

Clean up foreclosed home, or city will - Las Vegas Sun: "As a growing number of cities across the country are aggressively forcing owners of foreclosed and abandoned properties to clean them up, Las Vegas is going after them with the help of a three-year-old ordinance that, until recently, wasn’t much needed.

Under the law, Las Vegas’ Neighborhood Services Department oversees cleanups of decaying or ignored homes that generate neighborhood complaints. The city may water lawns or clean pools and go after the owners for the cost. If they don’t pay, they are slapped with $500-a-day fines."------------That's a hefty fine that should get the attention of these banks who own property and won't take care of it. Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.

Tulsa World: Inhofe: Cancel the 'blank check': "WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Saturday that Congress was not told the truth about the bailout of the nation's financial system and should take back what is left of the $700 billion 'blank check'' it gave the Bush administration.

'It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,'' the Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World.

'It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don't know. There is no way of knowing.''"----------Hey, what are friends for?

Liberty Lakes Condominium Association: Food Drive A Success!: "Thank you to everyone who donated to the 2nd Annual Liberty Lakes Condo Association Food Drive. Through a number of generous neighbors we will be delivering over 25 bags of groceries to the Wauconda/Island Lake Food Pantry which is a huge sucess. Even through these difficult economic times this year many people opened their hearts and their pocket books to give to the less fortunate in our community. Thanks again to all who participated.

About Me

I am a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Nothing contained in this blog represents the opinions of UIC or John Marshall, and nothing you see here is legal advice. You can reach me at ecmlaw@gmail.com